Improved apparatus for rotting hemp



UNITED` v STATES PATENT' EEICE.

OHS. II. VAN DOEN, OE Sr. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

IIVIPROVED APPARATUS FOR'ROTTINGV HENIP.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 5,776, dated September 19, 1848.

- ing had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specication, in'which- Figure l is an isometrical view of the .apparatus, and Fig. 2 a vertical section.

The same letters indicate like parts in all the figures. Y y

The nature of 'my invention consists in heating the water in the hemp and iiax vats by passing tubes of hot air through them, and then causing the heated air to enter the drying-room, where the hemp or flax is dried, thus using all the heat from the furnace, and economically rotting and drying the hemp or flax to prepare it for breaking.

The apparatus is constructed as follows: A furnace is built with an Outside case-wall, a, within which there is an interior one, b, leaving a flue-space between them. IThe top of the inner wall, b, terminates in a cone, and the outer one is closed over it and terminates in a chimney, c, which chimney communicates with the space just named.l lOpenings b are made through the wall b into the space. Within the wall b the stove or air-heating apparatus e is placed. It consists of a cylinder` composed of'a coil of wrought-iron pipes, d, cemented together into a cylinder, the interior of which forms the fire-chamber, into which the fuel is put. When the y,re isv made, it passes up over the top of the cylinder e, and then down the outside of it, thereby enveloping the coil of pipe in name, te., and thence the smoke, 8vo., passes out under the bottom of the wall b, (where spaces bare left for that purpose,) and up the iue between the two walls andout the chimney. The lower end of the coil of pipe e passes out through the side of the furnace and communicates with a blower, by which air is forced through the coil. The upper end of this coil is carried out through the side of the furnace and enters a reservoirpiphe, from which the heated airis conducted by branch pipes g, provided with stop-cocks tothe vats i, lled with water, in which the hemp is put. lt passes through these vats y of ordinary construction in straight or coiled pipes, thereby heating the water to a proper temperature, and the air then enters a dryingroom, h, which is placed at the ends of the vats. This room, like the vats, is furnished with a grating, z', on which the hemp oriiax is placed, andlunder which the tubes above named enter the chamber. from the pipes is through small apertures'made through the sides of the pipes, which diffuses it through the drying-room. This room (as well as the vats) is made smaller at the bottom than at the top, so that the heating-space shall be contracted. The top of the dryingroom is perforated, so that the. steam from the drying hemp or flax may be carried off` with the hot air as it rises. In the vats l place'a heat-register, la, consisting of-a tube in which a piston, Z, works up and down,'which tube is partly filled with mercury, so as to move the piston upward by expanding, which, by rising, shuts avalve in the chimney and stops the draft and checks the heat when raised too high by means of its connection with said valve. A weight, a, uponA the upper end of the piston-rod forces it down as the vat cools. An-

other similar apparatus may also be attached to a stop-cock, m, in'the air-pipes, and the piston Z connectedtherewith to work it for turning off the hot air when in excess, by which the temperature is perfectly regulated. This connection is notshown in the drawings, but will be readily understood, and it may be connected in a variety of ways. A

I propose modifying lmy heating lapparatus by coiling a metal pipe around the flue of a steam-boiler or other heater when such a mode can be convenientlyand economically adopted,

and other and well-known means can be adopted for heating air without changing the character of the last part of my invention'.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The employment of heated air in the-man-'y ner described for heating the vats for rotting the hemp or iiax, and then passing said heated air into the drying-roomy for drying the hemp The exitof the hot air or flax tabatha-e been rotted preparatory to so that by increasing or diminishing theheat breaking, by which a great economy of heat thecdampers shallbe opened or closed, subis effected. stantially as herein described.

2. Placing regulators in the vains for keeping CHS. H. VAN DOEN. the water at the proper temperature, combined VVtnesses: and connected with the valves or dempers in WM. H. BISHOP,

the chimney and heated pipes g, as set forth, LUND VASHINGTON, Sr. 

